blood bath.

Taylor sells pest control for Alterra.  It's a great company and we have been very happy the last two years working for them.  One of the things we love so much about they way they structure the summer is a little thing we call The Alterra Cup.  This thing is gnarly.  It is a bracketed competition between all sales teams company wide.  I'm not sure of the exact number but there are 30+ teams competing in cities across the country.  Taylor's team has done extensive pre-season training and they have set lots of mini goals for themselves as a team in order to come out victorious as the coveted winners of The Alterra Cup.  Along with bragging rights there is about $3,000 cumulative in cash prizes along the way. {hello new golf clubs!}

Last week our team was up against some tough competition in Baltimore.  At one point we were 20 sales ahead, which is a significant lead.  But when all was said and done, each team was scrounging for .01ths of a point because it had gotten sooooo close.  Yesterday was they day for the winner to be announced but because of how painfully close the two teams were, no one knew who had truly won until late in the afternoon due to double-double-double-triple checking points.

Then it happened, Taylor called me and told me that our team had lost and we both felt our hearts break a little.  So much had been invested in these guys winning that it was hard to hear that it was over and that it had been so dang close.  On the bright side, I was happy that Taylor wouldn't have to work a full day today (Saturday) because the competition would be over for them.

Then it happened, Taylor texted me with the reality that we had actually WON!  We won by the slim margin of 0.3.

I still don't know what changed between hearing we had lost and actually having won.  But let's be honest.  I don't care!  Every one on the team won $500 and they are still in the competition (which is only two more weeks) EEEEK!  It's exciting and fun.  I feel very grateful that Taylor and his team were able to pull through and win this week.   Wish us luck for our current match up: Columbus, Ohio!

date night. hallelujah.

With Taylor's extensive work hours {11-12 hrs/ six days a week) we have been craving time together. Yesterday was a gift from above.  Taylor got off a little bit early and we got yummy Mexican at a taqueria near our apartment.  He needed some serious catch up sleep so he rested for a little bit.  We left Elise with our awesome, amazing, super close neighbor friends who live right above us.  It's very convenient because they also have a baby and the trade-off babysitting situation is ideal.

We started off our hot date with a little McFlurry action--Oreo and Resee's--of course.  We then proceeded to the movie theater to see Despicable Me, which was so cute and very funny. We were pretty much the only ones in the theater and we loved being able to laugh as hard and as loud as we wanted.

I have heard it countless times that date nights with your spouse are important and need to be a priority.   I completely agree.  Before we had Elise we always felt like we were on a date because it was just the two of us so often.  But now, the time we have alone is like gold and I am so grateful we were able to spend the evening together last night.  I Love Taylor and can't imagine life without my very best friend.

pictures

My sweet friend Andrea and her husband are out here in Sacramento selling with us.  Kevin is a boss on the doors and Andrea is amazing behind the camera.  She is so good. It's not one of those situations where my friend has a nice camera, so she can take amazing pictures. She's legit {Andrea Brionne Photography} and I love that she took Elise's one year pictures and that she'll also be taking our family pictures. The lighting is soft and beautiful and it makes me happy.

Thank you Andrea for capturing Elise's stoic and sweet personality.

Until tomorrow.

a purse

Yesterday I went to Costco with my sister-in-law, Morgan, who I love and my dear friend, Erin. It was a great time, and having Elise and Brady sitting next to each other attracted a lot of attention.  We heard a story about a woman and her grown twins and we were asked so many times if they were twins that Erin just started telling people they were.

The whole point of the Costco story, however, isn't about the kids.  Rather, about my purse.  I went to Costco which is 20 minutes away--without a diaper bag.  Bringing Up Bebe talked a little about how American moms feel the need to bring so much stuff and it can be quite smothering to their kids. I could feel myself being that mom who was constantly offering this toy and that book.  It was getting exhausting.  I don't want Elise to need constant stimulation from me.  I want her to enjoy her surroundings and experience her environment. Entertain yourself.  Observe what's happening around you.  Instead of my massive diaper bag, I brought this:

Elise doesn't need 15 toys, five diapers, three books, a bottle, snacks, ECT...for a Costco trip.  A road trip to Virginia, maybe, but not to Costco or for the vast majority of our outings. This little beauty came with one diaper, wipes a few crackers and one small toy.  And guess what?  My little girl was totally content and happy---the whole time.  No monster momma bag needed!  Joy was mine and I am so glad I learned this momma secret now rather than later.  Babies are a lot lower maintenance than we give them credit.

Until tomorrow.

reading

When Taylor and I were dating he told me that he wanted to be a reader.  He wanted to be the guy who had lots of books and who read all the time.  After three years of being married--he is that guy.  Right now I think he is reading 5 (ish) books simultaneously.  I love this about him.  

1. That he isn't a talker--he is a do-er.

2. That he reads a lot.

In my Children's Literature class at BYU-I, my professor told us that the most powerful reading influence a child can have is if the child sees their father, not mother, reading often.  Mmmm.  I love my husband.

Yesterday, I downloaded a highly recommended book called Bringing up Bebe.

I'm about 50 pages into it and really enjoying it. It's an American mothers comparison of parenting differences in America and France.  So far, my favorite nugget is this:

“When I asked French parents how they disciplined their children, it took them a few beats just to understand what I meant. “Ah, you mean how do we educate them?” they asked. “Discipline,” I soon realized, is a narrow, seldom-used notion that deals with punishment. Whereas “educating” (which has nothing to do with school) is something they imagined themselves to be doing all the time."

I love the perspective this give me and it makes me more hopeful that raising children will be a positive growing and learning experience for both of us.

Being a wife and a mother are the greatest callings I could imagine having.  I am fulfilled by my family and grateful for their companionship here on the earth.  I am grateful that I am sealed to them for eternity.

Until Tomorrow.

growth chart

Gramma Brown got Lise (and her future siblings) the cutest growth chart for her birthday.  It's adorable.

Yesterday, we measured her and she is 27 1/2'' tall.  A little human is zooming around our house!  A human who was once so small she looked tiny when we laid her in a laundry basket which was her crib for the first month of her life, is now busy doing independent things and playing like a big girl.

 She now...

-- Has 2 bottom teeth
-- says, "hello", "dada" and "mama"
-- loves to pretend to answer phones
-- kisses e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g and everyone
-- knows to be soft with other babies
-- Sleeps 12 hours at night
-- isn't attached to a specific blanket but loves carrying one around
-- Follows me around the house all day long.  When I'm out of sight she comes looking!
-- Eats yogurt, cheese, cereal, lots of fruit and still enjoys a little bit of baby food every now and then
-- Loves swimming at the pool, relaxing in the hot tub and watching big kids splash
-- could swing at the park for hours
-- DANCES!  This girl gets down!
-- still cuddles her momma

Time flies and babies grow too fast.

Until tomorrow.

goals

Three of my friends and I have decided to do a competition {cash money is involved} to motivate us to live healthier life styles.  It was my friend Erin's idea and it's be so much fun.  We've been at it a week and even though I'm not perfect at it, I'm having fun.

Some of the things we are striving to do each day include

--journaling {hence my daily blog posts}
--drinking 64 oz of water
--30 minutes of exercise
--reading uplifting material for 15 minutes a day
--getting fruits and veggies
--not eating after 8pm
--and a few others

Erin's idea came at a perfect time for me.  Since Elise turned one yesterday, I am off the hook for providing breast milk {!!!!!} so I started doing Take Shape for Life.  I have felt so in control of my diet because TSFL provides shakes, bars, soups and other meals that are insanely convenient and packed with nutrients.  After a week I'm down a pound and feeling good.

I've also been doing Jamie Easons LiveFit program via bodybuilding.com.  I'm in Phase 1 which means I'm doing no cardio but rather focusing on weight training so my body can burn more calories at rest.  I love weight training and can feel a difference more than I can see one.  Which works for me!

Life is more fulfilling for me when I have set goals for myself.  I feel like I have direction and each day is a little more well-rounded and productive.

Until tomorrow.

grandma.

This weekend has been a very special one for me.  I was blessed to get to have my mom come visit for three full days and each and every day was packed with mother-daughter essentials.  We were also able to squeeze in quite a few grandma moments!  My mom knows how to fill my canteen. It was hard for me to drop her off at the airport this evening.  I felt exactly the same way I did when I was eight and was at a sleep over feeling homesick.  I would start feeling sad and I would really miss my mom.  Luckily we took so many pictures we completely filled our phone storage space {kidding} so I can look back and remember these days well.

A little glimpse of what we did:

Saturday

Woke up and packed Elise snacks to last like seven hours. Then we headed out for our adventures.  First we found a Goodwill I hadn't been to yet and we searched for children's book treasures!  This was special for me because I love books because my mom read to me so often as a child.  She read the stories with her mom voice that left me hanging on each page.  I love that books were such a prominent part of my childhood and I want to give my kids the same gift.  We found some great Max Lucado books, Dr. Seuss's story about OOBLECK and how it takes over the town, Eloise in Paris {every girl must own} and believe it or not this one.

 Yes, of course we bought it.

After book hunting we were famished so we got Cheesecake Factory amazingness to refuel us for some clothes shopping.  My mom spoiled me with some beautiful new shirts and a perfect-for-moving-a-ton-at-church pencil skirt.

Clothes shopping can wear ya out so then we needed more food.  We picked up the husband and headed north to Benihana's.  A yummy Japanese place where they cook the food in front of you.  It's basically a dinner and a show and it was heavenly.


Sunday

Church was fabulous as always.  We had a funny small word moment when one of our friend's mom who is also visiting from out of town recognized my mom as a college roommate!  Crazy!

Sunday was also when we celebrated Elise's birthday.  She was truly spoiled to have all the friends we are selling pest control with come and celebrate with her.  We had balloons, cake smashing, cheesecake with berries, tutus and lots of laughs. It was a special day for our special princess.

There also may have been some floating in the pool with grandma but I can not deny nor confirm the truth of that statement {since it was Sunday}.


Monday

It's not a visit with your mom without a pedicure so we did that first thing.  Then we did some more quality sun-soaking, floaty riding at the pool.  We had it all to ourselves and it was perfect.  Afterwards we ate at BJ's Brewery which I will be sad to leave when we go back to Utah.  This place is always good and you can't beat and Oreo Pazookie.  You just can't.

It was hard to say good bye but memories were made and we will see each other soon in September.  I so love my mom and can't believe she has already come and gone.

Until tomorrow.

ribbons and curls and all things little girls

Anyone who knows me well or who has spent any amount of time around me since having Elise knows that I would be devastated if she was a tom-boy.  Being a tom-boy isn't a bad thing.  It's just a bad thing for a mom like me.

My own childhood was so rich with imagination, make believe, dress-up, dolls, princesses, nail polish (my aunt Laura told me I couldn't paint my nails red because, "Red is for women." And wow, did that make me want red a million times more), clip on earrings (I had to wait until I was 10 to pierce my own...maybe that's why I pierced Elise's at three months??).  Anyway, the point is I LOVED BEING A GIRL.  I had girl oozing out of me and I have been anticipating all the girl things I will get to do with Elise since I found out she was going to be a "she"!

I am happy to report that things are looking good for me.  It's hard to know when kids are babies because they don't show a whole lot of preference when it comes to toys.  But yesterday while I was getting ready in the bathroom, Lise waddled in carrying her baby doll in the crook of her arm.  She walked right up to my legs and stuck her own baby arms out for me to pick her up.  And there we were, mom and baby, baby and doll, kissing and cuddling.  And so the angels sang down and thoughts of tea parties and pretend weddings danced in my head.

I think we're going to get along just fine.

excitement

I was thinking about what to write about in my journal today and I realized that there are a few things that I am really excited for that will be happening in the near future.

1. My mom is coming to visit us in California....TOMORROW! She gets to stay for the weekend which is when we are going to celebrate Elise's 1st birthday.  I can't wait to pick her up, hang out and chit-chat, get yummy food, pamper ourselves with pedicures and let Elise give her kiss after kiss.  We haven't seen her since Christmas.  That's seven, long months without seeing my mom.  Saying I'm excited is an understatement!

2.  My cousin, practically sister, is having her second baby boy on Saturday!  She makes cute kids and I'm really excited to meet this new little guy.  Lots of big changes happening for her family.  Three weeks after she has her baby she is moving to Huntington Beach for her husband's law school.  That means she is only six hours away.  That means I'm going to get to see her and her baby.  And that means I am one happy lady!

3. In September my teensy nephew, Chase is being blessed in Rexburg.  The whole Brown clan will be there and its conveniently the same weekend my mom is dropping my beautiful, grown up, baby sister off for her first semester of college.  In September I get to see SO MUCH FAMILY and I can hardly wait!!!  I may or may not be most looking forward to re-walking the BYU-I campus with my sister while we scout out her class route and get her student ID.  Maybe we'll do some family names together in the Rexburg temple.  My favorite temple with my favorite sister.  I'd love that.

I have a wonderful family and I am so looking forward to seeing them in the upcoming months.


Elise wanted to type a little note :)

qweœß‰Ï›Å͉ Z

little miss independent

My baby is now a toddler and that happened really fast.  Freakishly fast.  She has personality oozing out of her and she has opinions!  She has made it very clear to me that baby food from a spoon is old news.  The last few weeks meal time has turned in to a World War and I was getting really, really frustrated.  So yesterday, at breakfast, I had had it.  I put some cheese and grapes in front of her and she absolutely loved feeding herself. (I gave her finger food quite a bit before but I got frustrated picking up soggy bananas and crusty-who-knows-what)  But this time, wow, this time she was ready to feed herself and she ate great!  Then lunch came and she got grapes and cheese again.  And then dinner..grapes and cheese and some left over pizza (green peppers, onions, olives and all) and she loved the pizza.  After I put her to bed though, I couldn't help but think grapes and cheese are great but let's get some variety for this girl!  So I scoured my Pinterest pins and found some great baby recipes that call for using up infant cereal and baby food.  Here's what I made:

I used my Little Green Pouch to squeeze baby food onto parchment paper in little dots.  Then I froze them.  The result are little finger-friendly baby food melts.

Easy and awesome.  

Next, I used a recipe from Wholesome Baby Food to make teensy-tiny baby pancakes which used the infant cereal.  These are so yummy and healthy for a little peanut!  They are flavored with mashed banana, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla.  Mmmm.

These took a little while to make but my sweet friend Erin came over and we flipped pancakes all night long.  My tiny eater loves both of these new treats and I love that they use up the foods I was trying to feed her with a spoon.  

Until tomorrow.

life as we know it.

This time of our life is full of change, adaption, growth and learning.  A little update on what we are up to:

--Taylor is going to school at BYU and his is studying Economics.  It is so. much. math.  I didn't know Taylor was so mathematically literate when I married him.  It's a pleasant surprise and will prove useful when our kids start needing help with anything above 3rd grade math.  "Wait until dad gets home.  I never really learned that..."

--When Taylor isn't studying at BYU he is selling pest control.  We subleased our apartment in Provo to move to Sacramento for four months.  It's intense out here with long hours, draining weeks and lots of needs that need to be met.  But in all the ways it's difficult it's twice as good.  We love the families we are out here with.  We love the money he is able to make so that he doesn't have to work while he is in school.  We love that we get to live in California...for free.  We love that our best friends live above us and our siblings {Morgan and Jared and baby Chase} get to be here with us.  And we love all the things we get to learn through this extreme summer.  We love being here.

--I spend my days with Elise and the girls I live out here with.  My most favorite thing to do is visit and re-visit all the thrift stores in the Sacramento area.  They are plenty.  I sift through the children's books and find favorites that I grew up reading, classics I learned about in my education classes, and ones that just look fun.  I read lots of books to Elise and I get sick of the really basic, repetitive stories. And when they are .25-1.00...it's a cheap hobby that truly brings me joy.  It takes me back to my childhood and makes me so excited to enrich Elise's.  Here are a few of my favorites that I found {if you haven't read them--you should}, all at a Goodwill/DI for less than $8.

That's all for now.  Until tomorrow.

Miraculous.

This week Elise celebrates her first birthday.  What a beautiful year our lives have been with her here.  She was the missing piece to our family that we didn't even know we needed.

I realized I never wrote her birth story and her birthday week seems like a good time to write it.

Taylor and I were living in L.A for the summer while he sold pest control door-to-door.  His long hours prevented him from being able to go to any doctors appointments with me.  However, I had a dear friend come with me to almost every one (doctors weren't sure if we were sisters or partners...) and I'm so glad that she did.

 At my 37 week appointment (40 weeks is full-term) my doctor was concerned that I was measuring quite small.  He ordered a spontaneous ultra sound for the next day.  My friend, Stephanie, wasn't able to come to that appointment so I was alone.  The tech took the measurements needed and then left me laying down for so long that I fell asleep waiting for her to come back.  The doctor came in with her and told me that my amniotic fluids were dangerously low and that I was going to the hospital asap (THAT DAY!).  The risks of low fluids include kinking the cord and having a still birth. {heart wrenching to hear}

My heart was racing and I was really nervous for a few reasons:
1. I was all alone.
2. I was expected to go back to work after the appointment.
3. My husband was knocking doors in some random city 30 minutes away and he didn't have a  car.
4. I was still 3 weeks away from my due date and didn't have a bag packed.
5. My phone was dead.


My heart was racing and I was really excited for a few reasons:
1. I was going to the hospital to finally have my baby! Elise was coming!
2. Work couldn't get mad at me for not coming back!!!
3. I'd get to see my mom!

The doctors office let me call Taylor and my mom to give them a heads up.  The doctor also monitored me to make sure Elise would be okay until we checked into the hospital later that night. I checked in at 8pm and was put on meds to induce labor.  I had reasonable expectations for how long it would take for her to actually be born...but I was so very, very wrong.  After 36 hours of waiting, being poked, monitored, prodded and starved there was still not even a tiny sign that she was moving along.  This picture says it all.

Then finally my water broke on it's own and I hyperventilated my way through an epidural.  No one ever told me how awesome that part would be--being on an epidural, not actually getting one.  And the catheter!  Very underrated.

Once I wasn't feeling anything anymore I got to sleep and rest.  I progressed very slowly and I think the nurses began to think I would be a c-section, which is very normal for someone who is induced 3 weeks early.  However, by some miracle I dialated quickly once the ball got rolling and after 52 hours of waiting in the hospital, Elise Harper was born at 5lbs and 6 ounces.  She was 18.75 inches long and the smallest human I had ever held.  She came out screaming like all babies do but as soon as I held her to my chest, tucked under my chin, that precious girl stopped crying and looked at me with the most trusting eyes.  She knew I was her momma.

There were risks of her having an infection and so she stayed in the NICU hooked up to antibiotics.  We were told she wouldn't be going home with us right away.  Taylor gave her a sweet Priesthood blessing and miraculously no infection had gotten in and she was perfectly healthy and very, very happy.

It's been a year now and we know this baby really well.  She has two bottom teeth, bright blue eyes that she didn't get from her mom or her dad.  Soft, straight blonde hair.  And she walks like no one's business, kisses anything with a face, loves the water and other babies and is always willing to "help mom" clean cupboards and empty drawers.

Taylor and I could not love this precious baby girl more.